1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to rope cleats, and more particularly to a new and improved cam-type rope cleat that grips plastic truck rope more securely.
2. Background Information
A rope cleat mounts on a structure to which a tensioned rope is to be secured, such as the bed of a truck. Those referred to as cam-type rope cleats include a cam that rotates slightly to bear against the rope for this purpose. In addition to the cam, it includes a cam spindle upon which the cam rotates, a rope abutment structure against which the cam presses the rope, and a base on which the foregoing components are mounted, the base mounting on the truck bed or other such structure.
Operation proceeds by drawing the rope downward into the cleat between the cam and the rope abutment structure. There it is engaged by a toothed gripping surface on the cam. As the rope attempts to escape the cam, it pulls on the toothed gripping surface so that the cam tends to rotate slightly. This causes the teeth of the gripping surface to press more firmly into the rope until the rope is unable to be further compressed. At that point the cam can rotate no more so that movement of both the cam and the rope stops.
One such cam-type rope cleat is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,835 to Randall, and that patent is incorporated herein by reference for the details of construction provided. Although the rope cleat it describes is very effective in many respects, it sometimes seems to hold plastic truck rope less securely than some other types of rope. In other words, the teeth do not seem to engage the relatively stiff plastic truck rope as securely as they do other rope, such as less stiff nylon rope.
Consequently, it is desirable to have a new and improved rope cleat that overcomes this concern--one designed to more securely grip truck rope.